People who know me often say that I have never met a stranger. I am also often called the life of the party. However, when it comes to certain things, I can be a real son of a bitch. I am a son of a bitch when it comes to water, especially drinking water.
In the realm of industrial water treatment there are very few charlatans. By vocation and the sheer excruciatingly high bar set for competition and performance, those who supply water to places like automobile manufacturers, hospital labs, and power plants are in a constant race to offer the best service and solutions to the customer. I have had a lot of competitors that I “hated” but rarely, whether it was Siemens, US Filter, Xylem, GE or otherwise did I have disrespect for them.
Conversely, when it comes to the drinking water industry, I couldn’t have less respect or a lower opinion. Particularly, the target of my contempt is the National Sanitation Foundation, or as we know them, the “NSF”.
Laying the Foundation
Now, before we get into my issues with this organization, let me be perfectly clear. The “NSF” is comprised and lead by many very well-educated, ethical and hard-working individuals. I have no criticism of the credentials of anyone associated with the “NSF”, however just like a sailing ship being overtaken by a hurricane, this organization has long since been taken over by agenda. In my opinion, the “NSF” is a dangerous organization and a threat to the quest for clean water. This of course is quite contrary to their claimed goals. So, without further ado, let me get to the business of being a son of a bitch.
The first despicable thing about this organization is their name. Go to a drinking water convention and you will hear thousands of imbeciles recanting the letters “NSF”. “NSF this, NSF that, oh we at the NSF believe that (insert horse manure here).” The overwhelming majority of Americans associate “NSF” with the honorable National Science Foundation. So, what kind of honorable, self-respecting scientist would take pride in letting people believe that a for-profit business called the National Sanitation Foundation is the real NSF. Oh, these pompous buffoons make no claims of such connection, but they don’t have to. Just by being silent, they know that the public will make the connection thereby giving them universal acceptance and credibility. Sorry, but this is despicable to me.
I think if the public was apprised that the “NSF seal” is something a client pays for, and that any failures along the way to certification are swept under the carpet, or that the vendor can simply modify his list of claims to achieve an “NSF” certification, they would have a far less lofty opinion (a more realistic one) of this organization.
Let me also say that I take no exception to the laboratory procedures and techniques that this “NSF” undertakes. Their analytical work is flawless and impeccable. The consumer can rest 100% assured that if the “NSF” tests something, it will have been done with the utmost precision.
Now you may ask me, “Tom how can you attest to their lab work but still have issues with them?
NSF certification does not promise that the water a filter produces will be safe to drink. Buyer beware!
Dirty Little Secret #1
The reason I have issues you see, is another dirty little secret that is hidden by the scientific difference between accuracy and precision. It is within these conventions that the science charlatan can wow and mislead the unsuspecting consumer with technical gibberish. Let’s look at a simple example of scientific deception.
Imagine that I want to know my bowling average over 100 games. Accordingly, I decide to hire five astute score keepers, all to manually record me bowling 100 games. Each time I roll the ball, the five scorekeepers check with each other for unity, and each time they tally spares and strikes, they likewise check with each other.
At the end of the trial, it could not be debated that these five individuals delivered a precise recording of my bowling. However, when it became illuminated that they only kept score for 9 frames, when a complete game has 12 frames, everyone would know that their work, while precise, was inaccurate. They precisely recorded 9/12 frames or only 75% of my potential score. And likewise so it is, in my opinion that the caveats of an “NSF” certification are hidden from the consumer in the same way.
Now, let’s see how this applies to how things really work with this “NSF” certification nonsense. Imagine I bring in a new filter that I believe removes 99% of the lead in water. NSF tests it and tells me it failed because it only removes 94% of lead. So, does that mean I have to go back to the drawing board and improve my product? No. What it means is that NSF will certify me for a lower performance.
NSF doesn’t give a good gas pass about how a product performs. All they do is certify that the filter being tested does what the manufacturer claimed. Now think what this means to the consumer. It is perfectly reasonable to find that both a great product and a crap product can sit side-by-side, next to each other and both carry the same NSF seal. So you tell me, what the hell good is an NSF certification?
WHAT NSF CERTIFICATION REALLY MEANS!
When deception harms consumers!
Of all the things I despise about “NSF” the thing that reviles me the most is that for years consumers have been buying water filters and assuming that because of the certification, the product made safe drinking water. To be clear, the NSF and the Water Quality Association (WQA) make no such claims, but by being silent, in my opinion, again they are deceptive and unscrupulous.
While their Gen X and younger employees would argue vehemently against my beliefs, they simply don’t know any better, they honestly believe that they are on an honorable mission of elevating the water industry. However, I promise you, the old timers, the guys my age absolutely know about their unethical culture of omission.
For anyone who thinks I am stretching reality by insinuating that people buy filters assuming the water will be safe, check out the link below. Brita is suffering a class action lawsuit exactly for the reasons I mentioned. People assumed the water would be safe. The filter met the NSF certifications, but still made people sick.
BRITA SUED FOR MISLEADING CONSUMERS!
The Dirty Little NSF Certification Secret!
Water filter manufacturers today are like mindless zombies, in this instance hypnotized not by an apocalyptic virus, but instead by the culture of percent rejection. Without exception, pick up a consumer water filter and the box will boast of percent rejection. “We remove 98% of lead, we remove 98% of chromium” and on it goes.
Why are such claims meaningless? Well, think of it this way, if I told you that as head of the TSA I guaranteed that 98% of terrorists were kept of off planes, would you fly? If as director of the FAA I told you that 98% of our pilots fly soberly, would you fly? Of course you wouldn’t. You want a guarantee that the flight is safe. End of discussion.
The claim of a percentage removal of a contaminant is a useless piece of information because depending on what the contamination level of the feed water is, 98% of a contaminant could be removed and the 2% left in your water could cause irreparable health problems, even death. Water must be safe to drink and percentage removal claims don’t guarantee that.
The worst of the dirty secrets
Here is the dirtiest, and in my opinion the most despicable secret about NSF, the WQA and the entire drinking water filter industry. There is not one filter product, there is not one certification that guarantees safe drinking water.
What is safe drinking water? We don’t need opinions. The Safe Drinking Water Act tells us specifically what safe drinking water is. The Safe Drinking Water Act is the only legally substantive definition/description/prescription of safe drinking water that we have. If a product cannot guarantee this, it should say so on the box.
The goals of a son of a bitch
In thirty years of fixing water, not once has a customer come back to me and said, “you let me down, the water you made for failed us”. I have pissed off and embarrassed bosses and corporate executives, even to the point of losing jobs. But I have never let a customer down.
In my opinion, the entire drinking water industry, the “NSF”, WQA and other guiding councils are comprised of second-rate scientists, and imbeciles. Imbeciles who are so isolated and hypnotized by industry jargon and agenda that they have lost focus on the consumer. For those who want to argue with me, I will simply say that in 2022, Sixty million Americans drank poisoned tap water. Oh, the “NSF” and WQA will quickly tell us that they didn’t cause this, but as leaders of the drinking water industry, they sure as hell didn’t help it either, did they?
As ambitions as it sounds, It is my goal to eviscerate this part of the industry, turn it on its head, rid it of the Charlatans and reset it. Shameless self-promotion aside, I have invented new technology what will make every existing water filter obsolete. I will keep you updated as we get closer to a release date.
The takeaway, is that people deserve to have safe drinking water. I hope to pave a path for the many water scientists who can help make that happen. “NSF” your days are numbered!
Thanks to Salih Altuntas for the featured image photo
